It has been revealed that a local English daily the Daily Mirror may have got duped by a prankster with an email made to appear as if sent by Minister Diana Gamage’s media unit claiming Disney was looking to set up the first Disney Land of South Asia in Hambantota.
A Twitter user has revealed that he too got the same email consisting of a press release appearing to have been sent by Gamage’s media unit from the same email address as it was sent to the Daily Mirror.
The sender had claimed he/she had sent the same bogus email to the Deputy Editor of the newspaper Jamila Hussain to show news editors now do zero verification. The email had also consisted of an alleged letter from Disney sent to Gamage. Following Daily Mirror’s report on the contents of this email in its website and print edition, other outlets also picked the allegedly fake news story.
The Twitter user identified as Neville Lahiru pointed out that the letter purportedly from Disney is undated, a possible clue that the letter is not authentic. He also posed several questions including would expanding to Hambantota as the next destination make business sense, or even be realistic for Disney.
